James Surowiecki Quotes

Present day American capitalism—for all our misgivings about it—at least leaves room for free institutions to flower and survive.

The market economy is very good at wealth creation but not perfect at all about wealth distribution.

America traditionally represents the greatest possibility of someone's going from nothing to something. Why? In theory, if not practice, the government stays out of the way and lets individuals take risks and reap rewards or accept the consequences of failure. We call this capitalism - or, at least, we used to.

The hour of capitalism’s greatest triumph is its greatest danger.

I believe that capitalism is the one thing in this world that's brought people out of poverty.

In essence, capitalist systems are a mechanism by which economies may generate growth in knowledge - with much uncertainty in the process, owing to the incompleteness of knowledge.

Right now people seem to be very tentative about the positive benefits of capitalism.

Capitalism has forced everyone to overoptimize in order to compete.

If I had to give a definition of capitalism I would say: the process whereby American girls turn into American women.

I mean, the country was founded on free enterprise. There's good things about it, and there's obviously bad things about it.

That's free enterprise, friends: freedom to gamble, freedom to lose. And the great thing - the truly democratic thing about it - is that you don't even have to be a player to lose.

For the private sector to flourish, special privilege must give way to equal opportunity and equal risk for all.

Capitalism is that form of private property economy in which innovations are carried out by means of borrowed money.

Capitalism had been more revolutionary than any previous social system. It had swept away without scruples old institutions and modes of thought, if they were found to stand in its way.

The free enterprise system does not leave people behind.

Capitalism cannot reform itself; it is doomed to self-destruction.

I don't have anything against corporate America. I mean, I guess there's something about living in a capitalist society that can get kind of terrifying at times.

When the forces of liberalism and capitalism converge, change happens.

I don't think capitalism can survive.

Capitalism - for the record - has lifted more people out of poverty than any other economic system in the world.

Capitalism is the engine that has grown economies.

Capitalism started out with a noble and high motive, but like most human systems it fell victim to the very thing it was revolting against.

Capitalism proceeds through creative destruction. What is created is capitalism in a 'new and improved' form - and what is destroyed is self-sustaining capacity, livelihood and dignity of its innumerable and multiplied 'host organisms' into which all of us are drawn/seduced one way or another.

The guiding principle is not to manufacture the goods everyone needs, rather to earn profits for a few capitalists.

Capitalism and political systems - like companies - must constantly evolve to stay vital.